


This Is Why You Do Your Own Paperwork, Sheev

by Fandom_Trash224



Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Defenestration, Fox Fixes Everything, Gen, Miscommunication, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Paperwork, Self-Indulgent, Treason, fake death, fox is a NERD and kinda sad and he knows it, fox vc its not treason if he did it first its fine, idk how to tag this SO!, is that. not a tag? it should be
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-01
Updated: 2020-04-05
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:40:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23434795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fandom_Trash224/pseuds/Fandom_Trash224
Summary: In which Fox is stuck with a shitty but necessary job, but ends up learning a lot more than he's qualified to know, as well as the events that follow.Alternatively called: "Fox Uncovers The Conspiracy Early And Gums Up The Works As Best As He Can While Trying To Keep The Republic From Tearing Itself Apart And Also Not Get Caught"
Comments: 43
Kudos: 282





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OKAY i know i posted this on april fool's but its a real fic i promise
> 
> it's. been a hot minute since i actually wrote this so please be gentle

In his rare sentimental moments, Fox rather enjoyed looking up into Coruscant’s atmosphere. Seeing ships fly around the semi-hazy sky, the dim pinpricks of stars a soft backdrop to the hum of the living metal city-planet that he was tasked with helping protect.

The view, unfortunately, was rather hard to enjoy while he was plummeting several hundred feet through the air after being thrown out a window to his imminent death.

It wasn’t exactly the most dignified way for a clone commander to go out, especially for one part of the Coruscant guard (especially when compared to  _ Thorn _ , the poor, loyal bastard), but seeing as Fox wasn’t Force Sensitive or anything special like that, it would, unfortunately, be his end.

_ Months _ of investigation, treason, going behind the senate and Chancellor’s backs, and he dies because he got thrown out of the fucking window by a Jedi who refused to see things for how they were. Of  _ course _ that was Fox’s luck.

He can’t help but think back on what got him to that situation, which, considering how fast he was falling, was going to make for a poor last few thoughts, but he supposed that if any part of his life were to flash before his eyes, he’d much rather it be that recent chunk than literally any other part of his life. 

Given the chance, Fox would go back and fix  _ a lot _ of things, but deciding to do all that? Well, Fox couldn’t say he wasn’t at least proud of himself for trying.

He did his duty, and that, he knew, was what mattered.

###

_ One Year Prior _

Fox, the moment he took off his helmet, dragged his hands down his face for at  _ least _ the millionth time since his start in the Coruscant Guard. 

After dealing with no less that two threats against the senate building (both false, stupid kids pulling stupid pranks), a dangerous gang situation in the lower levels (the same gang, for the fourth time that week  _ alone _ ), and serving guard duty for several high-maintenance senators (an important job, but sometimes he got tired of listening to their “problems”), Fox was  _ not _ in the mood to deal with flimsiwork.

Much less the  _ Chancellor’s  _ flimsiwork.

Fox wasn’t built for it. He wasn’t born and bred and trained to be used as a flimsiwork machine. He was the commander of the Coruscant Guard, for crying out loud! His duty was to protect and serve the senate, the Chancellor  _ especially _ , but the Chancellor had decided that meant that flimsiwork was included in those duties.

As much as Fox complained about having to actually fill it out, one of the few things that the Chancellor  _ did _ do on the flimsi was put his signature, which allowed Fox to avoid having to go to the Chancellor’s office every five minutes to get the leader of the Republic to do  _ his _ job. However, despite all beliefs to the contrary, the Chancellor was only a man, and men made mistakes (although, the Chancellor made very few), so there was now a small stack of completed, but unsigned flimsi on Fox’s desk. 

It was getting late, and Fox knew that the Chancellor did not enjoy being disturbed at that hour, but most of the flimsi was time-sensitive, and Fox would much rather be mildly reprimanded for seeking out his superior at an ungodly time than be blamed for it not getting done.

So, he eventually found himself outside the Chancellor’s office (Fox knew he was up, the Chancellor had confessed his late-night tendencies to a senator, once upon a time), and was just about to announce himself, when he…  _ heard _ something. 

Fox’s hand stilled, hovering just above the button meant to alert the Chancellor to his presence as he heard two voices from within the office. It was strange, considering the room was meant to have the ability to be soundproof, but it was highly likely that the Chancellor had turned it off for the night when he got caught up in the conversation.

Fox, in his opinion, was not a nosy person by nature. When the other members of the Coruscant Guard gossiped about their superiors, he had kept himself out of it, at least actively. It wasn’t  _ his _ fault that they were loud, and that he was a  _ very _ good listener. That, of course, was also the case as he approached the (apparently) open doorway, keeping just out of sight. He wasn’t being nosy, he was making sure the Chancellor wouldn’t need assistance. 

Definitely. That’s what Fox kept telling himself, at least.

“And the droids?” He heard the Chancellor say, though his voice sounded…  _ strange _ , like he was forcibly straining it “When will the prototypes be ready for full production?”

“According to Tambor and the Geonosians, they should be ready within the week.” A voice over the holo replied, and Fox’s blood seemed to freeze in his veins.

Anyone who was anyone knew that voice. The voice of the Separatist Movement, the Sith Lord in charge of it all, the Count of Serenno:  _ Dooku _ . Why the  _ hell _ was the Chancellor talking to Dooku about  _ droids _ ?

One of the few things Fox had liked about command training was that they taught him when to retreat, when the battle was too much and they couldn’t handle it. Every instinct within Fox was  _ screaming _ at him to  _ get out of there _ , because something was going on, and really, it shouldn’t have been.

But it was, and Fox wanted answers.

“Good…” The Chancellor mused “Good… Soon, my vision for the galaxy will come to pass, and we shall stand victorious over the Jedi and their pitiful Republic.”

“Of course, my lord. And you are positive that Kenobi and his men will be alone at this next battle?”

“Yes. I am the one who assigned them there, after all. Once it is time to unleash the droids, they will be sent there immediately, and they will be defeated.”

“And without him, Skywalker will fall, and the galaxy will be ours.” Dooku finished, and Fox  _ swore  _ he could hear the smile in the Count’s voice. The Chancellor’s, too. 

He had heard enough, and began to silently leave the area, flimsiwork be damned, and once he was sure he was out of earshot of the Chancellor, he  _ ran _ .

As the door behind him slid shut, Fox let out a shuddering breath. Okay, okay, so, the Chancellor was talking to Count Dooku about taking over the galaxy. That wasn’t good. 

‘ _ Not good? A bit of an understatement, isn’t it? _ ’ He thought bitterly to himself as he slowly stumbled into his room. Uncovering a possible traitor, one who just so happened to be the  _ Chancellor _ , was  _ far _ from good. Far from  _ not good _ . It was a  _ disaster _ .

Fox sank into his desk chair, turning away from the piles of flimsiwork, his stomach rolling and chest tight as he forced himself to  _ calm down _ and  _ think, Fox, it’s what you’re good at _ . He was smart as a fox, it was how he got his name, and in order to live up to it, he had to  _ stop _ and  _ think _ . 

The Chancellor was speaking to Dooku about prototype droids, supposedly ready for full-scale production within the week. A battle was coming up that only General Kenobi and the 212th were meant to be at, and, supposedly, lose. Then, General Skywalker was meant to fall, and then, and  _ then _ \--

“Holy karking shit.” Fox swore under his breath, the words feeling foreign in his mouth, which was usually reserved for professionalism and beration. He couldn’t believe it. The Chancellor was a  _ Separatist _ . Moreover, one of the  _ leaders _ of the Separatists. 

Fox’s blood seemed to grow even colder as a realization hit him. If he was a Separatist leader, as well as the leader of the Republic… Why even bother with the war? All it was doing was getting people killed! Who benefited from that? Who benefited from a galaxy at war?

Fox had a creeping feeling up his spine, telling him he had a pretty good guess.

But  _ why _ ?

_ That _ was the question Fox was stuck on. Why would the Chancellor go through all this trouble after serving the Republic faithfully for years? It went against everything he knew about the Chancellor (then again, he knew very little outside what propaganda and his instructors said), what made him switch sides? How long had he been with the Separatists?

That last question repeated itself over and over in Fox’s mind.  _ How long had he been with Separatists _ ? Had he been with them since the start, or did he switch halfway through the war? What caused him to rally to them? Had he planned on the war all along?

Fox’s thoughts came to a screeching halt.

What the  _ hell _ did he just stumble onto? A conspiracy? A traitor? A traitorous conspiracy that’s been years in the making? What the  _ fuck _ was he supposed to do about it?

‘ _ Oh no _ ,’ He thought ‘ _ No fucking way. No  _ **_fucking_ ** _ way. I’m not digging into this. _ ’

Fox slumped forward, his head in his hands. He was  _ totally _ going to start digging into it. He was going to look further into it, find evidence, and present it to the Jedi and Senate. He was going to try to figure out what the  _ hell _ was going on.

Fox sighed heavily. Could he  _ really _ , though?

Fox's duty was to protect the Senate,  _ especially  _ the Chancellor. Fox wasn't an idiot. If he investigated this, went deeper, it would not only put himself in danger, but it could quite possibly put the Chancellor in danger as well. That went  _ directly  _ against what he was made for.

As he watched a speeder go by the window of the small window in his room, Fox straightened slightly, a realization hitting him.

_ Yes _ , he was made to protect the Senate and Chancellor (among other, Coruscant-specific things), but if what the Chancellor was doing had the potential to harm the Republic as a whole... 

Well, there was no part of Fox that was willing to let that happen. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay so imma keep it real w/ y'all, i have no idea what im doing with this story save for some plot points here and there, so if it seems weirdly paced or whatever, that's why. hope y'all enjoy it, though!
> 
> btw, thanks for all the comments and kudos! im glad you're as excited for this fic as i am!

Fox had always been a fan of planning things out. Making lists of things to be done, methodically going through and checking off each box and sub-box before moving on, the happy rush that came from a job well done, it was something that brought Fox an amount of joy that various other members of the Coruscant Guard (among other clones) had often called “sad”. So what if they thought it was boring and tedious to them? It helped keep things on track, kept things orderly and within regulation.

Making a list of things to do in his current situation, however, was only proving just how _messy_ and _complicated_ this task was going to be. He rubbed his hands over his face again as he read through what he had.

  1. _Find concrete evidence that the Chancellor is a traitor_
    * Uncover possible allies within the senate (?)
    * Figure out his full plan
    * ?????
    * Don’t get caught
  2. ?????
  3. Keep the peace in the aftermath



There were _way_ too many question marks on that list for it to be considered a real list, and it made Fox want to scream.

He didn’t even know where to _start_ looking for proper evidence, much less how to acquire it without getting caught and/or murdered. He needed a _plan_ , he needed _allies_ , and he didn’t even know who he could trust.

Sure, there were his own men, but half of them saw him as some sad lapdog that happened to be in charge of them, and the other half would probably just think he was finally starting to crack under the pressure of the job. Not that either party ever said that sort of thing to his face, but Fox wasn’t an idiot, and it didn’t take a genius to overhear the way they talked about him.

Fox shook his head. No time to think about his relationship with his fellow clones. He had a mission, and he needed to focus on it, others-be-damned. With a sigh, he started to look through his caseload for that day, needing a break from his borderline treasonous plans.

He was de-stressing from work by doing more work. No wonder the others thought he was sad. 

Fox huffed. _Don’t think about them, focus on your job._

He opened the files sent across his datapad that morning, mostly just after-action reports from the nightshift and a few notifications from the CC chat that Fox refused to participate fully in. He had too much work to do, they _all_ did, and Fox couldn’t fathom how any of them found the time or place to crack jokes at each other in the middle of a _war_. When he had expressed the thought to them, they just told him to extract the stick from his ass and fuck off. He then threatened to have them written up for talking to him like that.

Okay, so maybe Fox was partially to blame for his own lack of allies.

Fox sighed, opening the group chat if only to take a look at the messages and catch up on what the others were going through. It was mostly the same: Jokes and shitty memes, random pictures of wildlife or aliens, Cody and Bly waxing poetic about their Jedi (which was unprofessional and _weird_ , in Fox’s opinion, not that it mattered much to them), but there was a set of messages that caught his eye.

**_Rexy:_ ** _I got news about Dogma a couple of hours ago._

**_Rexy:_ ** _Apparently, they’re going to process him through the Coruscant court system first, have a mock trial and everything. Guess they want to at least pretend what’s happening is fair._

**_Rexy:_ ** _From what I heard, he’s supposed to arrive at the Guard’s holding area sometime tonight._

**_Kote:_ ** _Poor kid’s gonna have to deal with Fox until he’s sent back to Kamino. I feel bad._

Fox made an effort to pretend that didn’t sting. As he thought about it thought, he did remember signing off on a prisoner intake form before retiring to do the Chancellor’s flimsiwork, before his whole world got tossed sideways and out the window.

**_Rexy:_ ** _I just hope they’re lenient with him, or that they at least make it quick. He killed a traitor. He deserves a kriffin’ medal._

**_Bly-Bly-Bly:_ ** _You can say fuck. You know that right?_

Fox would’ve let out a soft snort at that, but the fact that this prisoner, this “Dogma”, had killed a traitor and was being punished for it made Fox’s skin crawl. He kept reading, hoping for context, but the conversation was mostly just agreements and condolences, which didn’t help Fox at all. 

Looks like he would have to dig on his own. At least he knew where to start now.

\---

“CT-5437,” Fox began, then when the prisoner flinched, he cleared his throat awkwardly, “Sorry. You go by Dogma, right?”

Dogma nodded, though he wasn’t meeting Fox’s eyes. Likely because he had been told stories already, despite only being a rookie. Most rookies tended to know stories about Fox and the Guard before even setting foot off Kamino, these days. 

“Listen, we don’t have much time, but I need you to listen to me if you want to get out of this alive, alright?”

That got the rookie’s attention pretty quick. Fox still couldn’t believe he was doing this.

“What?” Dogma asked, sitting forward, “What are you talking about?”

“I know what you did on Umbara, to the traitor,” The word was heavy and sharp on Fox’s tongue, but it was accurate, “They’re giving you a trial out of courtesy, but you’re screwed either way. Even if they don’t care that you shot a Jedi, you attempted to turn on your fellow clones. It’s treason either way. It’s not _fair_ either way.”

“Just because it’s not fair doesn’t mean it’s not right,” Dogma retorted, distrusting, “I broke the rules, disobeyed my superiors, _killed_ my superior--”

“Under an extenuating circumstance! Listen--” Fox took off his helmet, pinching the bridge of his nose, “If the situation were different, I’d probably agree with you, but there’s… _Something_ going on. Something bigger than Krell. I can’t get into it here, I only have about five minutes before the others get back to camera duty and see I’m not there, but I need you to trust me. Please.”

There was a beat of silence, and the timer was slowly ticking down in the back of Fox’s mind as Dogma looked him over.

“How much bigger than Krell?”

“The entire Republic could be at stake.” Fox said seriously, and that seemed to be the kick in the pants the rookie needed, because he sat bolt upright.

“What do you need me to do?”

\---

“ _Thire, this is Fox, report in!_ ”

Thire all but dropped his caff as the emergency line suddenly crackled to life in his ear, also startling the younger members of the guard he had been relaxing with while Fox took over their position for a break. The sad little nerd didn’t have much to do that day, and was practically jumping at the bit to take over. Fox _really_ needed a hobby that didn’t involve making plans or crying. Or both.

“This is Thire, what’s going on?”

“ _Prisoner CT-5437 is attempting an escape! I’ve got a tail on him, but he’s headed your direction. We’re gonna need to cut him off!_ ”

Shit.

“We’re on our way.”

“ _Keep those blasters set to stun, understood?_ ”

Of course. Thire wasn’t an _idiot_.

“Got it, we’re on our way.”

With a nod, they put on their helmets, double-checked their blasters, and ran.

\---

Thire had to give the rookie some credit where it was due: Not everyone could take on Fox in hand-to-hand combat. 

Maybe he wasn’t the best at it out of all the CCs out there, but he was still a CC, which meant he trained harder than most CTs on Kamino did, especially the newer, rushed generations. Dogma, evidently, had not gotten the memo.

As Thire and the other Guard members rounded the hallway, he watched as the two fought with each other, exchanging and dodging blows with effort. Their appearance, however, evidently distracted Fox, as the CC paused, probably to say something, giving Dogma an opening to punch him square in the face. Thire didn’t even _want_ to know where Fox’s helmet had gone, more worried about the fact that Fox crumpled to the floor, losing his grip on his weapon as he did.

As Fox’s blaster skittered across the floor, Dogma managed to grab hold of it, turning his back to the unmoving commander to point it at Thire and the three other Guard members. They froze, keeping their own weapons at the ready, the soft sound of the gun shifting modes causing ice to run through Thire’s veins. Knowing Fox and his obsession with keeping that thing on stun, it was obvious that Dogma had just set it to the lethal force option. 

“Drop the blaster!” Thire commanded, “Now!”

“I’m not going back! You can’t make me!” Dogma’s voice was shaking, almost hysteric, “I did my duty! I-I was a good soldier, you can’t let them take me!”

Thire, out of the corner of his eye, saw Fox stir slightly on the floor, slowly shifting his way towards Dogma. All Thire had to do was keep him distracted.

“If you come quietly, we will not harm you. Now, _drop the blaster_!” 

“Fuck you!”

Within seconds, Fox was up, grappling with Dogma once more, but Dogma was quick. He elbowed Fox in the face, but not before Fox managed to wrest his blaster back from the prisoner. Dogma was also smart, because he seemed to understand he was now severely outmatched, so he did the only thing he could do: He ran. 

“Go down the other way, I’ve got him!” Fox shouted, raising his blaster and running after Dogma. With a sudden chill, Thire realized Fox hadn’t set it back to stun, but before he could say anything, a single shot went off, and the distant sound of a body thudding to the floor echoed down the hall.

So much for bringing him back alive.

\---

  
**_Rexy:_ ** _I’m going to fucking kill him._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if it wasn't evident by now, this story is only like. semi-serious? it's serious plot-wise, but there's a lot of goofs and whatnot to break it up, so yeah!

**Author's Note:**

> star wars tumblr: clonesdeservebetter.tumblr.com


End file.
